“A World of Peace is Possible”
Guantánamo, May 4, 5, 6, 2017
The Fifth International Seminar for Peace and the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases was held again in Guantánamo, the easternmost Cuban province and first anti-imperialist trench of America because part of its territory is illegally occupied by a foreign military base against the will of its people.
This most recent Seminar had a total of 217 participants from 32 countries, among them leaders from the World Peace Council (WPC) and its member organizations, as well as public figures, fighters for peace, peace-loving people and friends in solidarity with Cuba from Angola, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Bolivia, Bostwana, Brazil, Canada, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoras, Cuba, El Salvador, Spain, the United States, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain, Palestine, Puerto Rico, RASD, Dominican Republic, Seychelles, Switzerland, Venezuela.
The participants confirmed that the event was celebrated within the context of a complex international situation essentially characterized by the permanent aggressiveness of the United States imperialism and its NATO allies, that attempt to rebuild a new world map according to their geopolitical and geo-strategic interests, for which purpose they increase their interference in nations from all continents and the oppression their peoples.
To achieve those purposes of intervention, domination and blackmail against the peoples of the world, imperialism relies on a group of tools, among which stands out the proliferation of military bases and facilities in numerous countries of the planet.
Essentially, the United States is the country with the largest number of military bases worldwide, followed by its imperialist NATO partners, and it is the country with the largest nuclear arsenal in the history of humankind.
Furthermore, the acute economic crisis of capitalism remains, with the increase of poverty, hunger, and inequalities in the so-called Third World nations among its most negative effects.
The interventionist wars that have severely impaired the stability of several Middle East and African countries have produced massive and chaotic migratory phenomena that have brought death at sea of a large number of migrants seeking refuge in European nations which, in general, reject them.
To that unstable global context must be added the presence of a new Republican administration in Washington that has raised numerous questions, criticism and great skepticism, and whose most recent military actions make the drums of a war of devastating consequences for humankind sound louder than ever.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, imperialism and its current lackeys among the national oligarchies of several countries are attempting to reverse the process of progressive changes initiated by leftist forces more than a decade ago, and intend to restore the neo-liberal policies that caused so much damage to the peoples of the region.
To achieve such end, imperialism and its acolytes appeal to a dirty economic, political and media war aimed at confusing the peoples and destroying the group of social achievements attained by progressive governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and other countries where the future of the entire region today is at stake.
Within that context, the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as Peace Zone approved by the Second Summit of the CELAC held in Havana in January, 2014 gains greater validity as the most relevant political commitment made by all Latin American and Caribbean states, confirmed by the Statements issued at the Fourth Summit held in Quito, Ecuador, in January, 2016, and at the Fifth Summit held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in January, 2017.
Recognizing people who fight all over the world for the abolition of foreign military bases and taking into consideration all the above, this Fifth International Seminar calls to redouble the struggle against the aggressive imperialist actions that threaten world peace, and agrees to create a Global Coalition of Organizations against foreign military bases.
We, peace fighters gathered here in Guantánamo also
COMMIT OURSELVES TO:
 Systematically denounce the aggression and the economic, political and military aggressiveness and interference of the United States imperialism and its NATO allies
 Alert the peoples about the dangers of a world nuclear war of unforeseeable consequences for humankind
 Demand the closing of foreign military bases, facilities and enclaves and the immediate withdrawal of the foreign occupation troops from the countries where they are deployed.
 Continue to demand that the United States return to Cuba and its people the illegally occupied territory of the Guantánamo Naval Base, and the lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade.
 To disseminate the contents of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as Peace Zone, given its topical nature and validity within the Latin American and Caribbean political context
 Strengthen the world struggle against terrorism, denouncing that its actions benefit the purposes of imperialism
 Multiply the actions of the international campaign for a world of peace without nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons, and reveal their presence in foreign military bases and facilities
 Denounce the impact on the environment and the health of the populations of the territories where foreign military bases are located
 Express the widest solidarity with the countries and peoples under colonial dominance with military presence in the Caribbean and in South America, such as Puerto Rico and the Malvinas (Falkland Islands), South Georgia and South Sandwich islands
 Continue to denounce of the interventionist actions of imperialism and the counterrevolutionary oligarchy in Venezuela aimed at destroying the Bolivarian process, which in addition is a clear threat to peace in the region.
 Encourage solidarity with the remaining Latin American and Caribbean progressive processes, and with the sovereign process of regional integration, today threatened by imperialism.
 Call for the broadest international solidarity with the Arab countries and peoples under colonial domination, occupation and Zionist and imperialist wars of aggression in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and RASD.
 Likewise, we express our solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on a general strike and demand the release of all the patriots from that country who are showing an exemplary resistance.
 Continue to grant the most resolute support to the successful culmination of the peace process in Colombia
 Express the unrestricted support of Bolivia in its just demand for an access to the sea.
 Condemn the protectionist policies and threats of the new United States administration against migrants
The participants in the Fifth International Seminar for Peace and the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases agreed to convey a brotherly greeting and acknowledgment to the people of Guantánamo and its authorities for the warm welcome given to them, and for the facilities granted them for the successful achievement of the event.
They likewise conveyed their greetings to the entire Cuban people, which continue to make a great effort to achieve a more just, prosperous and sustainable socialist society, and paid tribute to the memory of the indisputable leader of the Cuban revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.
Guantánamo, Cuba, May 6, 2017